River North frame shop owner shot, killed at factory

The owner of a custom framing gallery was killed Saturday afternoon near his store's warehouse in the Englewood neighborhood.

March 3, 2014 3:18:37 PM PST

March 3, 2014 (CHICAGO) --

The owner of a custom framing gallery was killed Saturday afternoon near his store's warehouse in the Englewood neighborhood.

Herbert Goode was apparently collecting rent from tenants on Saturday when he was shot and killed.

Goode endeared himself to a lot of people, according to his family and friends, who say that one reason the 66-year-old was well-liked was because of his work ethic.

"He expected nothing less than excellence, but he would give you the same in return," said Laura Devine, former employee.

Devine was one of Goode's employees at Silver Cloud Galleries, a custom framing company he started nearly 40-years ago. It's a business with a storefront in River North and a warehouse in Englewood. It was outside of that industrial building at 57th and Claremont where Goode was shot and killed over the weekend.

"It was just bad, you know? To see a guy bleed to death and you can't do nothing for him you know?" said Amer Majdobeh.

Majdobeh and his cousin saw Goode moments after he had been shot and stayed with the dying man until he was taken away in an ambulance.

"I rushed over there and I held his hand and his hand was releasing and his eyes were rolling," said Shadi Elayyan, victim's tenant.

Elayyan says Goode owned the property where his framing warehouse was housed and was a landlord to other businesses in the building. He says Goode was well known in the neighborhood and was more than likely at the building Saturday afternoon collecting rent from his tenants.

Witnesses say Goode may have been the target of a robbery, and that a car was seen speeding away from the scene. While there are surveillance cameras on the building, tenants say they were not recording at the time.

Goode's death has stunned his tenants, who consider him to be their friend.

"He's one of those landlords that anytime something goes wrong, he fixes it right away. you never had a problem with him, you know," said Majdobeh.

Goode's relatives describe him as a jack of all trades, relocating to Chicago after growing up in New York. He had a passion for motorcycles and was an animal lover.

Former employee Charles Thomas says Goode also invested in people, saying Goode took him under his wing as an apprentice framer many years ago and taught him lessons about business and life.

"Not only that, he taught me about karma. Good karma and bad. And whoever did this, the karma is going to eat you alive," said Thomas.